High hood SD40's look similar.

Paint it in a scheme you like but mark it up as a lease unit ??

How about you sell it and use the money to buy something you can use.

Paint it like an sd9, its short enough the roof fans are different and the fuel tak is different but you can pass it off

Isnt this your loco coming out of Northtown

Big Jim posted:

High hood SD40's look similar.

I'll look into that. Not sure if I've ever seen one of those. Probably wouldn't have noticed if I had.

jim pastorius posted:

Paint it in a scheme you like but mark it up as a lease unit ??

I thought about that. Right now it has Southern markings so that's a very easy out, a couple patches and voila.

Matt Makens posted:

How about you sell it and use the money to buy something you can use.

I don't even have it in my hands yet, and you want me to sell it? You of all people should know that's not how I roll. Beside a brand new mechanism is worth a lot more than its looks.

Matt Makens posted:

Paint it like an sd9, its short enough the roof fans are different and the fuel tak is different but you can pass it off

That's a much better option. I can't imagine that Soo didn't have any of those. Fixing the fans and tanks is a reasonable project.

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

It was a conscious decision to put this topic in the real trains forum, even though ultimately it has modeling at its base.

I recently picked up an Atlas high nose SD-35 on eBay. I got such a good deal on the price, I didn't really care what it was a model of. I did a little search of the internet after the fact, only to find out none of the railroads I model ever had one. It seems that with the exception the SP, railroads west of the Mississippi never owned any. I was hoping to turn it into a Soo Line, white and red with black lettering or a Milwaukee Road orange and black.

Looks like I have 3 options:

1. Modify the shell to a similar but different model that fits with my railroad. I like this idea if it isn't a crazy amount of work.
2. Find a different shell that fits the chassis and is an appropriate prototype for my railroad.
3. Paint it and fake it. It would be unique, and only a handful of people would ever know.
4. You may be able to acquire chop nose parts/different cab from Atlas. There model building systems seems to allow for interchanging parts.   One of my Atlas SD35's
5. 

 

The floor is open. Thanks in advance.

 

I still can't believe you feel your time has less value than money. A person can make more money, there is no way to make more time. Add it to already insanely long list of s**t you need to do.

Matt Makens posted:

Paint it like an sd9, its short enough the roof fans are different and the fuel tak is different but you can pass it off

Sorry but, an SD35, which is turbocharged, doesn't look ANYTHING like an SD9, which has two exhaust stacks in the long hood, and a completely different underframe.

Plus the cabs are different.

Matt Makens posted:

Isnt this your loco coming out of Northtown

 

This is what I was thinking: repaint it as a demo unit.

Eddie Marra posted:

Matt Makens posted:

Isnt this your loco coming out of Northtown

This is what I was thinking: repaint it as a demo unit.

Except EMD/GM didn't have any SD35 units in their lease fleet, nor did EMD have a "demo" SD35. The unit in that photo appears to be an SD40 with the high short hood (former N&W or Southern Rwy?).

Here is a link to the Atlas GP 35 exploded parts diagram. There is reference, middle of the page, to the high nose/low nose part(s) number(s).   Click on the link.  Check with Atlas, Bill Serratelli.

Montana Rail Link acquired high hood sd35's from the N&W plus at least one low hood version from the ACL.  So that's possibility number one that would be "close" to your region.  It appears most if not all high hoods were rebuilt with low noses at some point?  I can't tell if the new low hoods are replacements with sloped roofs, or typical chop jobs with flat roofs.

Obviously, a repaint of the high hood you have would be the simpler solution, but you could also replace the high hood and repaint as an alternative.

Atlas doesn't indicate any sd35 shell parts in their online catalog, but they sometimes have parts in stock that are not listed.  So a call to the parts department may yield positive results.

Alternatively, both the gp35 and sd40 low noses are indicated as in stock on the Atlas website. They should be essentially the same as the sd35 low nose and should be a suitable substitute.

Atlas gp35 low nose without headlight

Atlas sd40 low nose without headlight

Or you could use the existing high hood but remove a portion and lower the flat roof to the appropriate height.

I do like high hoods and the MRL livery, so this is probably the route I would pursue.

Jim

Hot Water posted:

Except EMD/GM didn't have any SD35 units in their lease fleet, nor did EMD have a "demo" SD35. The unit in that photo appears to be an SD40 with the high short hood (former N&W or Southern Rwy?).

The first thing that I thought of when seeing that picture was that it was an ex-N&W SD35 #1555. The SD40's didn't start until #1580.

EMDX sd35's

Fans and stack look like sd35 versus sd40 to me.

Hot Water posted:

Eddie Marra posted:

Matt Makens posted:

Isnt this your loco coming out of Northtown

This is what I was thinking: repaint it as a demo unit.

Except EMD/GM didn't have any SD35 units in their lease fleet, nor did EMD have a "demo" SD35. The unit in that photo appears to be an SD40 with the high short hood (former N&W or Southern Rwy?).

You're right.  I was trying to pick up what line that SD40 is from based on the color and number font, but can't figure it out.

Looks like an SD40-2.

Railfan Brody posted:

Looks like an SD40-2.

Don't think so. The SD40-2 series came with the new HT-C three axle truck. The trunks in the photo above of that 2500, look more like the older pre-Dash-2 "SD trucks".

To  quote you Jack "Google is your friend",  RRPicturearchives.net EMDX 1555 is an SD35 and is was running round our part of town. So they had at least 2.

Hot Water posted:

Railfan Brody posted:

Looks like an SD40-2.

Don't think so. The SD40-2 series came with the new HT-C three axle truck. The trunks in the photo above of that 2500, look more like the older pre-Dash-2 "SD trucks".

My bad.

Correction, they had at lest 3

Hey Elliot, I may have had an epiphany this morning about why the Atlas locos work better on the layout. Needs more research.

Thanks for the  correction, Matt. I never realized the lease-fleet bothered with any 35 series units.

I found it on accident, seeing as I will probably have to do the work I should do some research. I have a hard time telling the difference between the units but they do look like SD35's. Might they be trade-ins form the N&W and Southern? Seems like an easy enough job, flat black paint and some GM decals.

Oh and Jack, I apologize for a previous comment on a previous thread regarding a date of some sort. I should be much more receptive than I was.

Tell you what - I have somewhere a brand new SD-35 Atlas body with the passenger rear end.  I think it is SDP-35.  I will trade you even.  It has a low nose.  Original box - we stole the trucks, motors, and circuit boards a decade ago.  I will go look if interested.

jim pastorius posted:

Paint it in a scheme you like but mark it up as a lease unit ??

Points to Jim for being the first to mention "lease unit".

Matt Makens posted:

Isnt this your loco coming out of Northtown

 

Gold star to Matt for finding the photographic evidence to support it.

After Matt posted that picture, I went looking for the original on RRpicturearchives. I found that there were at least 6 of these units, maybe more, all ex NW. The dates on the photos are late 80' through mid 90's. NS must have traded these back to EMD when they bought new units, and Soo ended up leasing them. Some later found their way over to the WC. They were spotted in IL, IA, WI and MN. Here are a few more of those pics.

I even Googled up the logos to make some decals for it.

The GM goes front and back, and the EMD on the sides. My wife can do the decals on the printer. A little paint and a few decals, and it will be good to go. No cutting required, just the way a lazy modeler likes it.

Lesson:

There is a prototype for everything!

You just have to find it.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this lively discussion. This is what the forum is all about!

Amazing how that worked out.  Points to everyone !!   Just paint alll your units and mark them for Larry's Trucks !!

You can print those on white decal sheets but you can't print them on clear decal sheets.  Printers don't have white ink they use the negative of white paper for the white

Yup, I know that about the white. I wish they still made the Alps printer. BTW, finding that picture saved me a lot of time on this project. I won't get my red, white and black Soo on this one, but there will be others. You can count on it.

You can still buy a refurbished Alps printer and reloaded ink. That was very serendipitous that I found that pic in the Soo Line folder on RR picture Archives. I saw the high hood demo and had to look it up to see what it was.